Yokai
Robert Callaghan (also known as Yokai) is the main antagonist of Disney's 2014 animated feature film, Big Hero 6. He was the head robotics professor at the San Fransokyo Institute Of Technology and mentor to Tadashi Hamada. After suffering a personal tragedy, he became a silent, kabuki masked supervillain bent on exacting vengeance, with an army of Microbots at his command. Yokai/Professor Robert Callaghan is based on the character of the same name from the original comic book series, Big Hero 6 published by Zenescope Comics. Background Professor Callaghan was an aspiring man; a world-renowned scientist, praised for his innovations on the foundations of robotics, as well as the creation of Callaghan's Laws of Robotics. With such recognition and knowledge, Callaghan put himself to good use by teaching as the head professor at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, where he mentored such prodigies as the brilliant Tadashi Hamada, who admired him greatly. Although he was passionate about science and robotics, Callaghan's true love lay within his daughter, Abigail, who was once a test pilot for Krei Tech Industries: the world's leading technology industry, owned and operated by San Fransokyo's own Alistair Krei. One of Krei's latest ambitions, at the time, was the desire to revolutionize transportation through the use of portals—a project dubbed "Silent Sparrow". Unfortunately, during the experimental test run, a malfunction occurred in the system, and Abigail was lost in the portal, eventually presumed to be deceased. The tragedy left Callaghan with a hardened heart, and since, he swore revenge on Krei, and eventually descended into villainous madness as time would pass and his lust for vengeance strengthened. This would ultimately lead to the "death" of Callaghan's former identity, and the birth of Yokai. Official Description :Professor Robert Callaghan heads up the robotics program at the prestigious San Fransokyo Institute of Technology and is Tadashi’s professor and mentor. When Hiro visits the university for the first time, he is star-struck by the world-renowned roboticist—while Callaghan immediately sees the potential in the 14-year-old prodigy, encouraging him to put his brain to better use. :Yokai is the silent masked man behind the terrible tragedy that strikes San Fransokyo, turning Hiro’s world upside down. As a result, Hiro transforms a group of nerds into a team of high-tech crime fighters—Big Hero 6—with one mission: Track down Yokai and bring him to justice. Personality Before the tragic incident involving his daughter, Callaghan was apparently a good-hearted man, bent on changing the world for the better through the wonders of science and technology. He utilized his wisdom to guide young minds down a bright path, serving as a father-figure to his students, and specifically towards Tadashi. He was also passionate about the subject of science and resented those who used such technological advances for selfish gain, such as the pursuit of wealth and vain recognition, as opposed to improving the world. Above all, however, his true love and concern was Abigail, whom he referred to at one point as "everything" to him. It was her disappearance and Krei's ignorance towards innovation that morphed Callaghan into a murderous, vicious, and rather uncaring man, bent on seeking revenge on the ones who wronged him. With Abigail's demise, Callaghan's morality seemed to have vanished, and his lengths to achieve vengeance had no bounds, as he continuously made attempts to kill Hiro and his other students (originally due to the fact that they were witnesses, and later as a result of them being a significant threat to his plans), in addition to performing acts such as rampaging through the streets, destroying parts of the city, and continuously endangering innocent lives to the point of indirectly killing his own prodigy, Tadashi, all with apparently no remorse. Callaghan also seemed to have abandoned his own personal code of respecting science. Once he got his hands on the Microbots, he immediately used them to further his own selfish ambitions, in addition to repeatedly utilizing them as a weapon of mass destruction and homicide, despite their initial purpose being to further the well-being of humanity. Despite his self-assurance, Callaghan knew his power was limited to the strength of the Microbots, and when that was stripped away from him, he became visibly fearful and submissive. Aside from brief moments of indecision, these were notably the only instances in which Callaghan showed any sort of vulnerability. According to Baymax's scans Callaghan is mentally ill, suffering from acute stress disorder, as well as emotional instability. This likely plays into his villainy, as he spends a majority of the film in a deep state of either anger or sorrow, which can create deadly results when triggered. Even so, Callaghan is highly capable of concealing his true emotions, as he masked his pain with a generally easy-going and level-headed persona. Even after becoming Yokai, Callaghan generally remained stoic in the midst of his villainy, carrying out his schemes in haunting silence, even during combat. Despite the merciless nature of his actions, Callaghan is not a villain in his own mind, as his schemes were motivated by the loss of his daughter. At certain points in the film, most notably just before the final battle ensued, he would fall into a state of morality and regret before returning to his plot, making him somewhat of an anti-villain. During his final scene, in fact, Callaghan makes a penitent expression, showing an understanding of the consequences of his actions and the emptiness of revenge. The events of Big Hero 6: The Series confirms that Callaghan is at the very least remorseful for having indirectly killed Tadashi, and went as far as to apologize to Hiro for having done so. In short, while Yokai is undeniably ruthless and relentless in his pursuit of revenge, he is not incapable of realizing the damages caused by his actions, and facing moral dilemmas, such as remorse, making him one of the most human Disney villains. Physical Appearance Profile Robert Callaghan (Casual Form).jpg|Robert in his Casual Form. Profile Robert Callaghan (Yokai Form).png|Robert in his Yokai Form. Robert is a middle-aged man of New Zealander decent. According to the official sources, he is 54-year old. He is 1.86 m tall in height and is slender. Robert has wrinkled fair skin, gray hair and gray eyes. His eyelashes and eyebrows are somewhat thick and his eyes are in a shape. Robert is a tall, middle-aged man with a generally warm appearance. With his gray hair, sweatervests, and slacks, he donned the appearance of a kindly grandfather; matching his relationship with his students at the institute. Under the guise of Yokai, Callaghan was taller, darker, with a brooding appearance that gave off an ominous aura. His face was entirely covered by a kabuki mask, which was mostly colored in white, with red markings—symbolizing his anger and hate. The eyes of the kabuki mask were colored a piercing yellow. He also wore a black trench coat, black gloves, leg wraps, and ankle-length ninja boots. Powers and Abilities * Genius-level Intellect: Callaghan was an inspiration to lots of young geniuses due to his many inventions and became the dean of the SFIT because of this. He had enough coordination to keep many Microbots doing different things at once. Equipment * Neurotransmitter: A high-tech headband designed by Hiro and used to control Microbots, attached to a Kabuki mask to hide his true identity. * Microbots: Callaghan stole Hiro's microbots and due to being the inventor of the Magnetic-bearing servos he was able to make more for himself in secret to attack Krei Industries. Appearances Big Hero 6 Big Hero 6: The Series Other Appearances Yokai's kabuki mask makes an appearance in the deleted Zootopia scene, "Detective Work", seen on a shelf in Officer Bob's office. Video Games ''Disney INFINITY: 3.0 Edition'' Yokai makes an appearance in the San Fransokyo circuit of the Toy Box Speedway feature, as a non-playable character. After the first lap, the Microbots begin attacking and taking control over the city, eventually revealing the Silent Sparrow portal looming over the city, as well as Yokai, who ominously watches as the racers pass by while standing atop a towering cluster of Microbots. Trivia *Yokai means "spirit" or "phantom" in Japanese. *Yokai bears a striking resemblance to the Zenescope comic character Lord Deathstrike. *Callaghan's Yokai identity is never spoken in the film, usually referred to as the "Guy in the Kabuki Mask", "Masked Man", or the "Man in the Mask". *Callaghan serves as a dark parallel to Hiro: Both individuals are brilliant scientists, whom suffer a tragic loss of a loved one. This leads both Callaghan and Hiro on a dark path, driven by a lust for vengeance against those they deem responsible. However, unlike Hiro, who eventually accepts his loss and finds the strength to move on, Callaghan fails to learn the errors of his destructive ways, ultimately leading to his descent into madness and downfall. With these factors, Callaghan is an example of what Hiro would have become, if the latter had allowed his anger and despair to consume him. **Interestingly however, both express regret for what they had done. While Hiro expressed regret for nearly dishonoring his brother's memory in trying to kill Callaghan via Baymax, the crest-fallen look on Callaghan's face at the end strongly implies that he feels remorse for all his crimes upon seeing that his plan for revenge had ultimately been for nothing, after seeing his daughter alive. *As mentioned above, Callaghan spends most of the movie under the guise of Yokai; even after his identity is revealed. From a storytelling perspective, Yokai represents Callaghan's dark side. Whenever the man shows a hint of morality throughout the film, the mask of Yokai is off; but when he allows his bitterness and hatred to take control, the mask returns and villainy ensues. This in its own way gives Callaghan an almost split personality. *Callaghan is notably the only villain in a Disney film to cause the permanent death of a major character without it being an actual murder, instead being an accident. *His name may have originally been Dr. Martin Lebur according to the 2013 Rotoscopers video and early information. As Lebur, Callaghan was not a big fan of Hiro's intelligence, though this may have been changed to prevent any dead giveaways to his identity. *Originally, during the early stages of the film's development, Yokai was the leader of a nefarious gang, having aligned himself with a legion of San Fransokyo's criminals to assist in his plot. The group of henchmen included deleted villains such as the Fujitas, Mr. Sparkles, and the Bonsai Bombers (as seen in the Art of Big Hero 6 book). *In one of the first drafts of the script, Yokai would have been Alistair Krei, who would have become Yokai in order to create a menace to the city, so he could promote a defense project he created. He would have brainwashed and used Professor Callaghan and Tadashi, who would have survived the explosion as scape goats. This idea was scraped as the production team felt that Krei being the villain would not have enough impact on the story and would be too obvious. *There are a number of clues that hint at the true identity of Yokai: **Callaghan's remarks about Krei are made with underlying anger, suggesting that he has a secret vendetta against Krei's work. **The fire at the university started immediately after Hiro's Microbot presentation, and Callaghan was the only individual to be unaccounted for. **At the funeral following the fire that killed Tadashi, only one coffin is present, even though there are two pictures beside it, insinuating that only Callaghan's body was never found. *Though he lacks a musical number, Yokai has a recurring, instrumental theme that plays throughout most of his scenes. *Yokai never speaks until after his identity is revealed. *According to Baymax's scan, his blood type is AB- and he weighs 173 pounds (78 kg). Diagnosis: Acute stress disorder, High risk of cardiovascular disease & Emotional instability. *Because of his treatment towards his former students and Tadashi, following the Microbot theft and birth of Yokai, it is unknown as to whether or not Callaghan actually cared for the students of San Fransokyo Tech, as he expressed no remorse over his part in Tadashi's demise, nor did he show any hesitation in making multiple attempts to kill Hiro and his friends throughout the film. *When first introduced, Callaghan is wearing a blue shirt, but when he raises his hand out for a moment to see Hiro's bot, his shirt is red. *The red markings on Yokai's mask symbolize anger. *Interestingly, according to Big Hero 6: The Junior Novelization, Callaghan was the last person Tadashi saw before the latter's death. **Notably, during Hiro and Callaghan's confrontation following the reveal of Yokai's identity, Hiro states "But, Tadashi... You just let him die!" and Callaghan never denies these words, only responding by revealing he knew of Tadashi's sacrifice. *According to character designer, Shiyoon Kim, Callaghan has a military background. *Unusually, despite knowing how the Silent Sparrow portal works along with having witnessed the event that took her away from him, Callaghan did not consider the possibility that Abigail could be alive. Either the grief he felt may blocked this thought from entering his mind or he may have considered the possibility but he could not get the funding to rebuild the portal and by the time he did it Callaghan had lost sight of the possibility. *In the original comic book series Big Hero 6, it shows a flashback of him meeting his late wife.